If you love to use TikTok, do you know that you are becoming more and more stupid?
“The magic of love goes round and round, thinking about you makes my heart full of joy, night and day…”
“Being bitten by my cuteness will make your soul weightless…”
Lying on the sofa, my fingertips were sliding rapidly on my phone, watching the video on the screen, sometimes laughing, sometimes being moved and crying, sometimes getting angry…
Is this you who usually uses Douyin?
Reading 300 TikTok posts a day has become a habit for many people. Cute pets, beauties, complaints, various themes are compressed into videos of more than ten seconds. Once you fall into it, it will be difficult to extricate yourself.
Today, a massive “Invasion War of Information Fragments” is entering the lives of hundreds of millions of people along with brainwashing music. It has also triggered fierce criticism of short videos from all walks of life.
Vice President of Tencent: Watching short videos is eating pig food! Netizen: Who are you calling a pig?
On June 3, at the China Internet Audiovisual Conference, Tencent Vice President Sun Zhonghuai made a shocking statement: “The personalized recommendations of short video platforms are so powerful now. If you like ‘Pig Food’, all you will see is ‘Pig Food'” ‘.”
As soon as this statement came out, netizens expressed that they were “connoted”: If short videos are pig food, then wouldn’t those who watch short videos become pigs?
The “pig food” argument, with one word and three levels, not only detracts from opponents, discredits oneself, but more importantly, offends users: How can people who grew up in the Internet age know world affairs and play with mobile phones at the same time? Is it a “pig”?
Thoughts triggered by the “Pig Food Theory”: In the Internet era, are people smarter or dumber?
With the development of science and technology, people’s lives have undergone earth-shaking changes. As long as there is wifi around and mobile phone data, you can easily acquire the latest knowledge in the vast ocean of information and become a “talent” who is knowledgeable and talented.
Although he is obviously more “erudite”, he is ridiculed with terms such as “pig” and “retarded”. This makes people think: In the Internet age, are people smarter or dumber?
When it comes to this issue, we have to talk about the famous “Flynn Effect” theory. In the early days, American philosopher James Flynn investigated IQ tests of different races and found that people’s IQ increased by 14% between 1932 and 1978. Since then, people have called this trend of rising human IQ the “Flynn effect.” [1]
▲American philosopher James Flynn. /Source: Internet
However, as scientists conduct in-depth research on human IQ, a paradox appears in the “Flynn Effect”. for example:
In a 2018 PNAS study, researchers analyzed 730,000 pieces of data from 1970 to 2009 and found that human IQ values have been declining, with an average IQ drop of 7 points every 10 years, which is consistent with “Ever Lin effect” is obviously the opposite! [2]
▲In 1975, there was a significant turning point in human IQ. /Photo source: “PNAS” official website
In addition, French psychiatrist Michel DeMille also cited multiple studies in his publication “Digital Fool Factory” to prove that “Generation Z” (people born between 1995-2009) and “Millennials” ( The IQs of people born between 1982 and 2000 are declining! [3]
The emergence of the IQ paradox seems to illustrate: Human beings may be getting stupider! It’s no wonder that when we were studying, every teacher would complain: “You are the worst class I have ever taught.”
Who stole your IQ?
If the Flynn Effect is indeed gone, what is it about that is making us quietly dumber?
In fact, in the Internet era, many factors are pushing humans into the abyss of “fools”.
1. The information cocoon that you can’t get out of
In 2006, American scholar Keith Sunstein published the book “Information Utopia – How Everyone Produces Knowledge”, which first proposed the concept of “information cocoon”. In the era of big data, the Internet will push you whatever you like to watch. Slowly, like silkworms, you are trapped in a cramped “cocoon”.
In recent times, people have been overwhelmed by the “melons” on the Internet: from Lin Shengbin to Wu Moumou, from the Tokyo Olympics to the Alibaba scandal, the speed of information dissemination is simply faster than Su Bingtian. Through the keyboard and screen, netizens can both inspire words and point out the world. They seem to be like emperors, but in fact they may just be a silkworm chrysalis unable to break out of its cocoon.
Being in an information cocoon for a long time, people will gradually lose the opportunity to access other information. When the brain is overwhelmed by a huge amount of gossip information, it seems to be more knowledgeable, but in fact it is just circulating in the same dimension of content…
▲Keith Sunstein’s book “Information Utopia – How Everyone Produces Knowledge”/Source: Internet
2. Artificial intelligence that eats away at the ability to think
The replacement of Internet products is accelerating day by day, and human life has become more convenient. For example, food delivery platforms have realized “pie in the sky”, and search engines allow people to obtain knowledge anytime and anywhere… However, a study from the University of California in the United States found that smartphones are Affects people’s IQ levels and makes the brain dull! [4]
Take the GPS tool as an example. While it saves “road addicts”, it actually also makes people become “road addicts”. When you can’t find your way around, just enter the address in the search box and you can easily reach your destination. But in fact, every time a person gets lost, it is the reconstruction of the connection between the brain and a strange environment. If GPS tools are used for a long time, the brain’s ability to familiarize itself with the environment will gradually deteriorate.
If thinking is handed over to machines, the function of the human hippocampus will be weakened. Some scholars predict that in the next 20 years, the age at which humans will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease will become increasingly earlier! [5]
▲High-tech AR map navigation. /Source: Elephant News micro video screenshot
3. “Psychic opium” that paralyzes the brain
Not long ago, an article in the Economic Information Daily titled “”Spiritual Opium” Has Grown into a Hundreds of Billion Industry” went viral on the Internet. The author used sharp words to criticize the poisoning of video games to minors. , which resonates deeply.
In fact, “spiritual opium” is more than just video games? Short videos, trending searches, online shopping and other forms of entertainment derived from the Internet not only bring happiness to people, but also make people addicted as quickly as taking opium?
Research shows that addiction causes the brain to go through three stages: desensitization, sensitization, and deterioration of prefrontal lobe function. Under the constant stimulation of various entertainments, a person’s threshold for pleasure will become higher and higher, and cognitive abilities such as learning, reasoning, and thinking will gradually decline. [6]
Being addicted to “electronic opium” only brings short-term happiness, and the rest is endless emptiness…
Technology has penetrated into daily life, and people’s living habits have also changed accordingly. As the saying goes, “1 minute on Douyin, 3 hours on earth.” When dazzling electronic entertainment products stimulate the brain, people often have no time to exercise, and they always stay up late unknowingly.
Previous studies have shown that staying up late will make it difficult to discharge harmful waste from the brain, making people gradually “become stupid”; [7] and if there is a long-term lack of exercise, being bored for a long time will also affect the brain tissue, causing cognitive abilities to continue to decline. [8]
It’s funny to say that human beings have used their wisdom to invent modern technology, but in the end their lives have to be controlled by technology. This is really “smart but misguided”!
In the Internet age, modern people’s lives are more comfortable, it is easier to obtain information, and they can participate in social interactions and get happiness in a more convenient way. However, the impact of information cocoon, artificial intelligence, and spiritual opium on IQ cannot be underestimated!
The “pig food theory” is harsh but true. If we don’t exercise self-discipline, over time, the human brain, the sharp sword that leads us to the sky and the sea, looks down upon all things, and shines with the most beautiful light of reason in the universe, will eventually become addicted and become addicted. Passivated into a dull piece of scrap iron, leaving you useless without even realizing it.
